Conveyer



Feb.' 15, 1944.'`

N. L. DAvxs v couvmmn v Filed sept'. 28, 1942 4 sheets-sheet 2 R xoomzi Peb. 15, 1944.l

N. l.. DAvls l coNvEYEn Filed sept. 28; 1942 4 sheets-sheet s Fatentecl Feb. l5, 1944 ENT OFFICE coNvEYEn Nelson L. Davis, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Link- Belt Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois I Application Septembcr, 1942, Serial No. 459,889

s claims. v 01. la-143i My invention relates to improvements in automatic conveyers and has for one object to' provide a new and improved form of conveyer which will receive, transport and discharge free flow ing solid material.

Other objects are to provide a conveyer, `which will handle'solid material with a minimum of degradation; use a minimum of power; which will include manually, semi-automatically or full automatically operating means for discharging materials from the buckets or :for preventingv overloading receiving chute or bin.

Other objects are to provide in combination with such a conveyer, discharge control mechanism whereby one or more discharge receptacles or conduits may simultaneously be supplied with the proper amount of material during continu-` ous operation; and to combine in a single unitthe functions of conveyer, feeder and discharger.E

Other objects will Vappear from time to time throughout the specication and claims.

My invention is illustrated more or'less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan View;

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation;

Figure 3 is a section on an enlarged scale along the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a section on an enlargedscale along the line 4-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 -is a section similar to Figure 4 showing the parts in a different position;

Figure G'is a section along the line 6-6 -of Figure 4;

I Figure 7 is a section along the line l-'I-of Figure' 3;

Figure 8 is a section Valong the line 8 8 of Figure'3;

Figure 9 is a plan view of one of the buckets;

Like parts are indicated by like characters throughout the specification and drawings.v

I, 2, are two arms of a continuous conduit, joined at one end by a closed housing 3, rigidly attached to the arms I, 2, and at the other end by a h0using4 which has sleeve extensionsvi, telescoping withvthe arms I, 2. The arms' I,2 and the housing 3 are rigidly mounted on a framework shown diagrammatically at The housing 4 is slidably mounted on the vsub-frame 'I and aswill hereinafter appear, slack in the conveyer chain is taken up by longitudinalmovement of the housing under the impulse of the counterweight II connected by cable 8 passingv over pulleys 9 and I0 with the housing 4.

I2 and I3 are conveyer chain sprockets; onei I4 is an endless,

each in the housings 3 and 4. conveyer chain illustrated diagrammaticallyf4 in Figure 1 by dash lines, traveling over the spreek-- A'ri drive gear I4I and a conveyer sprocket` I2.

I8 is a pinion in mesh with the gear |40 driven. through a reduction gear I9 from a motor 20. The. sleeves 5 permit movement of the housing 4' without breaking the dust seal and without opening the conduit. The branches I, 2 and the housings 3, 4 have floors 28 and side walls 26, 21`and are closed at the top by a removable cover shown diagrammatically at'2I. 22 is a feeder housing mounted on rthe 4cover 2| of the branch 2 and is adapted to receive material 'through any suitable supply pipe 23 of the branch Z. It contains a feeder hopper 24 adapted to receive material from any suitable source not here shown, details of hopper, housing and supf,. ply vsource being illustrated only diagrammati- I cal'lyas they form no part vof the present invention.`

Spaced inwardly from the side `walls 25, 2l are track strips 29 supported on webs 30 projecting 4 inwardly from the side walls. thus ample clearance is left between the Walls 25 and 2l and the track strips 29, Conveyer buckets 3|, some or all of them, having roller shafts 32 which carry angedwheels 33 to travel along the track strips 2;;9, have upwardly extending ilanges 34 to engage links ,3,5 or 35 of the chain I4, there .being one link vfor each bucket. The links are articulatedl by pintle pins- 3l' so as to make a continuous drive propelling chain and `supported on the buckets BI. The chain I4 travels around the sprockets-i 2 and I3 and is always supported above the level of the buckets and above and to one side of the material contained in the buckets. This prevents abrasion and clogging ofthe chain;

Each bucket includes two hoppers 38 and 39. The vfront wall of each hopper ,38 is maskedby the lip ,40 extending rearwardly from theback'hopper of the preceding bucket so that When the buckets are in line they present a continuous` Surface, the lip of eaclrprecedine bucket overlying the adjacent wall of the succeeding bucket.

This overlap is effective always whenever the chain is traveling along a straight line. ,It is not the case with respect to travel around the sprockets I2 and I3 because the chain-is adjacent the inner body of theconduit `and vas the chain travels around the sprockets I2 and I3, the buckets spread apart. Y

This characteristic of the chain and buckets limits-the position of thefeed housing 22, It can beanywhere in the rsystem except wherethe chain istravelingaround the sprocket. The feedhous.- ing-as shown in Figure 3 contains the Ihopper :'24 having a Vdownwardly extending discharge spout 4I terminating just above the upper surface ofthe lips 4i), The spout il! hassi'de walls .42 carrying downwardly extendingexible scraping members 0r :squeegees 43 which .may `actually come in icon-- tacbwith fthefllip ed. The :downstream yspout Walliil has a .Squeeeee :45 which comes down also that is, every bucket would be filled. When that situation prevailed, then there would be no outflow from the hopper 24 into the buckets. The buckets would merely pass beneath the hopper,

.the mass of material in the buckets would main- "tain a continuous closure to prevent outflow exible medium between the lower vend of the. l

' "or spillage of material.

spout and the lip 40. A

As the conveyer buckets are moved in the direction of arrows shown in Figure 3, with the hopper 24 containing a sufficient supply of material, the material flows through the spout 4l to ll each successive bucket as it passes beneath the spout, the size of the spout being suicient with respect to the speed of bucket travel so that'by the time the bucket has passed the spout, the bucket will be filled level. Surcharging or overlling of the bucket is impossible because as the material fills the bucket and banks up in the spout, the actual contact of the squeegees 43 and 45 provides a closed system to prevent any appreciable overiiowing of the material. Thus each bucket is level lled and goes forward in a level filled condition after it has left the feed spout.

Wear strips 48 are disposed along the floor 28 of the conduits. These wear strips support bucket gates 49, pivoted at 50 on the under forward sides of each of the bucket hoppers 38 and 39. The bucket hoppers have triangular bottom discharge ports 5I extending upwardly from the lower edges of the downwardly and rearwardly inclined walls 52 which mask the pivot axes of the bucket gates.

53 is a shield or shroud extending rearwardly and downwardly from the inclined wall 54 of each bucket hopper and conforming in cross section as indicated in Figure 9 to the discharge opening 5I, the shield, however, projecting rearwardly from the wall 54 a slight distance above the discharge opening as indicated at 55 to provide a certain amount of clearance between the normal line of flow of material passing through the port 5I and the shroud 53.

The gate 49 resting on the wear strips 48 is normally out of contact with the underside of the bucket hopper, as shown in Figures 3 and 5. The gate 49 is dish-shaped having upwardly and outwardly extending inclined walls 56. The slope of the shroud 53 is substantially equal to the angle of repose of the material discharged through the port 5I so that under ordinary circumstances, there is a clearance at 51 between the shroud 53 and the'material. If this clearance were not present, upward movement of the gate 49 with respect to the bucket would not be possible without jamming, lifting the bucket off its wheels, or crushing the material. When the gate 49 is rotated upwardly the material between the bucket and the gate may be forced into the clearance without any harm being done.. The shroud 53 and the inclined wall 52 all terminate within the area bounded by and slightly below the outer edges of the gate 49, thus while there might under some circumstances be a slight up pressure or upflow of the material around this area within the periphery of the gate, such up-flow is not suicient to cause spillage of material about `the periphery of the gate 49.

z If there were no discharge from the conduit and if the wear strips 48 were continued throughout and if the buckets traveled around with material being fed to the hopper 24, a situation would ultimately ensue where the whole system,

,from the chute 4I and the buckets would continue to operate without any binding or jamming Spaced along the conduits I and 2, are a plurality of discharge hoppers 59. There may be one or more and they may be associated with conduit l or 2 or both. These discharge hoppers are especially well illustrated in Figures 4 and 6. The floor 28 and the wear strips 48 terminate at the upstream and downstream sides of the hopper 59. The hopper has inclined floors ylill,

6I discharging into la, chute 62 which may bef controlled by a manually adjusted sliding gate 63 or by any suitable means as desired. Extending across the hopper in general alignmentY with thewear strips 28, are two or more fixed discharge cams 64.' At each end the upper surface of these cams 64 are in horizontal alignment withthe upper surfaces of the wear strips 48. Intermediate their ends, the cam surfaces 65 cause gradual opening and then gradual closing of the gates 49 as the buckettravels to the right. This is important because if the `gates are suddenly opened and closed as the buckets pass along, shock on the mechanism would cause excessive wear and violent movement of the gates would tend to throw the material and thereby cause degradation and `deposit on the conduit floor.

If only the cams 64'were provided, each bucket as it passed over the hopper would spill its Aload until the discharge hopper 59 was full. To insure adequate supply and proper control, it is desirable that the maximum capacityof the conveyer to supply the discharge. hopper 59 be greater than the means for withdrawing material therefrom. In the absence of some separate control means the discharge hopper would-gradually ll up and the level of material would riseV above the cam surfaces 65, the doors 49 would drag along the surface ofthe material Yand ani excess amount of material would be scraped forwardly into the downstream side of the conveyer conduit. This would-result in clogging the conveyer conduit, thereby increasing the power'required, perhaps 'even preventing bucket movement and would result in excessive degradation of the material.

To prevent such overcharging of the hopper 59, movable control arms 6B located in parallelism with the members 64 are rigidly mounted on shafts 6'! journaled in the members 64. shaft 6l projects at one end out through the wall of the hopper 59. A lever arm-68 is rigidly mounted on the shaft 61. A pin 69 is rotatable and longitudinally movable in a slot 10 in the lever arm 68; Mounted on-the wall 0f the hopper 59 is a bracket 'Il supporting a solenoid '12;v a. plunger '13 being slidable therein lcarryinga head i4 in which the pin '69 is rigidlyv mounted.'Y A spring 'l5 is compressed between the solenoid l2 and thefiange 16 on the vhead 74.

The spring 15 tends to assist gravity in mov-v ing the control arm 66 into the down'position asA shown in Figure 4. Under' these circumstances as each bucket passes over the discharge station, each bucket gate49 travels along the cam surface 65and is allowed to open asindicated in Figlire 4 so that some or all of the bucket load may discharge lnto the hopper. As long as The:

, the arms 6G per'mitssuccessive bucket gates to be lowered by the cam 65, each successive bucket will discharge vinto the hopper as it passes over it. This would continue if material were not withdrawn from the hopper 59 until the hopper were iilled. It is, of course, not desired that the hopper ever be completely full, that is full to the point at which successive bucket gates will wipe material out of the hopper intothe conveyer so under .ordinary circumstances, the arms 6B are normally held in the upper position as indicated in Figure 5. This may be done by two separate control means.

TI, 18 are lead wires from any' suitable source of electric power. The wire 'I8 extends directly to one terminal of the solenoid. The wiie 11 leads to one end of a wiper linger 'i9 which is associated with a time clock. The clock causes the linger to rotate along the two opposed segments 8S), 8|, there being a spacebetween the segments at both ends so that as the wiper 'i9 makes a complete revolution, it is engaged most of the time with segments 80 or 8|, but twice for a shortV interval during every revolution the linger 'is is out of contact with the conductor segments til, 8l and the circuit is broken.

A conductor 82 extends from the segment 80 to the other pole of the solenoid. A short conductor 83 joins the conductor 82 and the segment 8l. A conductor 813 extends from the conductor 'il to one terminal of a switch 85.- A conductor 85 extends from the other terminal of the switch 85 to the conductor 82.

If the switch 85 isl in the closed position, the solenoid will be actuated, and will overcome the pressure of the spring l5, raise the arms or bars 66 into alignment with the tracks or wear strips 48 and the Abuckets will no longer discharge. Thus by manual manipulation of the switch 85 the buckets may be permittedto load or not as the case may be. Such manual manipulation, of course, is not satisfactory under all conditions and under normal operating conditions it is advisable to let the time clock function. As the time clock rotates twice during each revolution of the clock, the circuit is broken for a period, the length of which depends upon the rate at which the clock travels and the distance between the two opposed ends of the conductor segments 80 and 8|. Each time the circuit is broken at the time clock, assuming that the switch 85 is open, the spring 'l5 tends to move the strip 6B down to permit successive buckets tov unload. If material is being drawn out of hopper 59 at a rate such that the hopperl will fill more lrapidly than the buckets can supply it, each time the bars 66 are lowered, material willtend to pile up in the hopper each time the circuit is closed and the strips S are moved up through the material in the hopper. The material in the hopper will offer little if any resistance to the movement of the bar 66 but as the hopper fills up, the bars tend more and more to besupported on the material and this condition will continue with each successive movement of the bar 66 until a time will be reached when the hopper is so full that the bars cannot sink even under the influence of gravity and the spring 'l5 far enough below the cam 65 to permit discharge of the buckets. This situation will continue. The solenoid will be deenergized periodically but no matterial will be discharged. As soon as material has been drawn out of the hopper suiiicient to make it necessary for further material to be fed, the bars 56 will be free to Ifall and 'supply' to the hopper will take place.-

All that necessary under these circumstances is that the timing of the clock be 4such that under maximum withdrawal from the hopper 59, the clock will operate often enough to permit the strips 66 to move down often enough, that is for a sufliciently long period of time to permit ma terial to be fed to the hopper in amount great enough to supply the demand therefrom. That means the apparatus will normally be set 'so that the conveyer will be able to 'feed a little more material to the hopper than the maximum with-` drawal. Under those circumstances, the time clock and the supporting of the bars 65 by thematerial in the hopper will be Su-icient 't'o 'com-i pensate for the difference so vthat under all 'circumstances the hopper 59 will be `iilled.

' If for any reason it is desired to permanently prevent withdrawal from the hopper 59, the shutter S3 is provided which may close 'the chute 612 discharging from the hopper `59. i

There is, of course, always the possibility that a certain amount,usually a very small amount of material may iind its way into the' conduit itself beneath the buckets. In orde-r that such material may be quickly removed, av scraper plate 89 is provided, .preferably of rubber 'or other flexible similar' material. It is notched to straddle the wear plates 43, is supported on a rigid blade 9i, which blade is supported on arms 92 pivoted on a shaft S3. The shaft 93 is associated with a dummy bucket hopper gli which is vclosed at its top as indicated at 95. This blade travels across the hopper being limited in its downward movement by the stop S5 engaging a lug 91 so that whatever loose material is found in any part of the conduit will be scraped along to discharge at'the next discharge hopper.

It will be realized that while I have shown and described an operating device, still many changes might be made in the shape, size, number, arrangement and disposition of parts without departing materially from the spirit of my invention. I wish, therefore, that my showing be taken as in a large sense diagrammatic.

I claim:

1. A conveyei` including a bucket having a bottom discharge aperture, a -gate controlling said aperture, means fo-r holding the gate normally i-n closed position, a discharge station along the path of travel of the bucket, means associated with the discharge station for first opening the gate `as it enters the station and for then closing the gate as it leaves the station, means associated with the discharge station and independent o'f the gate opening means for separately holding the gate closed as it passes through the discharge station, said means including a movable arm and means for moving it into and out of position to engage the gate and hold it closed, the means for v moving the arm into the gate closing position inzcluding a solenoid, a connection between the solenoid and the arm and means for normally energizing the solenoid to hold the movable arm in gate as it leaves the station, means associated with the discharge station and independent of the gate opening means for separately holding the gate closed as it passes through the discharge station, said means including a movable arm and means for movin-g it into and out of position to engage the gate and hold it closed, the means for moving the arm into the gate closing position including a solenoid, a connection between the solenoid and the arm and means for normally energizing the solenoid to hold the movable arm in gate closing position and for periodically deenergizing the solenoid to cause the movable arm to move into gate opening position, there being associated with the solenoid, means for supplying electric current thereto, a time clock and a switch actuated thereby adapted to normally close the circuit throughthe solenoid and to periodically open the circuit.

3. A conveyer including a bucket having a bottom discharge aperture, a gate controlling said aperture, means for holding the gate normally in closed position, a discharge station along the path of travel of the bucket, means associated with the discharge station for rst opening the gate as it enters the station and for then closing the gate as it leaves the station, means associated with the discharge station and independent of the gate opening means for separately holding the gate closed as it passes through the discharge station, said means including a movable arm and means for moving it into and out of position to engage the gate and hold it closed, the means for moving the arm into the gate closing position including a solenoid, a connection between the solenoid and the arm and means for normally energizing the solenoid to hold the movable arm in gate closing position and for periodically deenergizing the solenoid to cause the movable arm to move into gate opening position, yielding means associated with the solenoid tending in opposition to the solenoid to urge the gate closing means into the gate opening position.

4. A conveyer including a bucket having a bottom discharge aperture, a `gate controlling said aperture, means for holding the gate normally in closed position, a discharge station along the path of travel of the bucket, means associated with the discharge station for first opening the gate as it enters the station and for then closing the gate as it leaves the sation, and means independent of bucket movement for preventing opening of the gate, said means including a movable member adapted to engage the gate independent of the rst mentioned opening and closing means to hold the gate in closed position throughout its travel through the discharge station, a solenoid, a connection between it and the movable member, means for normally energizing the solenoid to hold the movable member in gate closing position, and means for deenergzing the solenoid to cause the gate holding member to move to gate opening position.V

5. In combination, a track, a plurality of buckets and means for moving them along the track, each bucket having a gate supported on and held in closed position by the track, a discharge cam in alignment with the track adapted to cause movement of the bucket gate to the open position as the bucket travels therealong, a separate bucket closing means including an arm pivoted at one end adapted to move vertically in general parallelism with the cani, a lever, a'connection between the lever and the arm, a solenoid and a connection between the solenoid and the lever,v

the solenoid when energized being adapted td hold the armiin bucketgate closing position.-`

6. In combination, a track, a plurality of buckets and means for moving them along the track, each bucket having a gate supported on and held in closed position by the track, a ydischarge cam in alignment with the track adapted to cause movement of the bucket'gate to the4 open position as the bucket travels therealong, a separate bucket closing means including an arm pivoteol at one end adapted to move vertically in general parallelism with thek cam, a lever, a connection between the lever and the arm, a solenoid and a connection between the solenoid and the lever, the solenoid when energized being adapted to hold the arm in bucket gate closing position, yielding means associated with the solenoid adapted to thrust the lever into bucket open-Y ing position when the solenoid is deenergized.

7. In combination, a track, a vplurality of buckets and means for moving them along the track, each bucket having a gate supported on and held in closed position by the track, a discharge cam in alignment with the track adapted to cause movement of the bucket gate to the open position as the bucket travels therealong, a separate bucket closing means including an arm pivoted at one end adapted to move vertically in general parallelism with the cam, a lever, a connection between the lever and the arm, a solenoid and a connection between the solenoid and the lever, the solenoid when energized being adapted to hold the arm in bucket gate closing position, means for periodically energizing and deenergizing the solenoid.

8. In combination, a track, a plurality of buckets and means for moving them along the track, each bucket having a gate supported on and held in closed position by the track, a discharge cam in alignment with the track adapted to cause movement of the bucket gate to the open position as the bucket travels therealong, a separate bucket closing means including an arm pivoted at one end adapted to move vertically in general parallelism with the cam, a lever, a connection between the lever and the arm, a solenoid and a connection between the solenoid and the lever, the solenoid when energized being adapted to hold the arm in bucket gate closing position, means adapted to thrust the lever into bucket opening position when the solenoid is deenergized, means for periodically energizing and deenergizing the solenoid, said means including a time clock, a plurality of conductor segments, a contact arm operated by the clock adapted to travel along said segments, the segments being out of contact with one another, the contact arm being adapted to close a circuit through the solenoid when it engages the segments and to break the circuit through the solenoid to deenergize it when passing from one segment to another.

9. A conveyer including a bucket having a bottom discharge aperture, a gate controlling said aperture, means for holding the gate normally in closed position, a discharge station along the path of travel of the bucket, means associated withV the discharge station for rst opening the gate as it enters the station and for then closing the gate as it leavesthe station, additional means, independent of the bucket movement, for pre`l venting opening of the gate and means for periodically rendering said independent means active and inactive.

y 1 NELSON L. DAVIS. 

